1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a metal mould replacing apparatus which serves to replace a metal mould for use in a moulding machine such as an injection moulding machine and a press machine.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As such a metal mould replacing apparatus, there is the one disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,063,648 proposed previously by the inventors of the present invention. The conventional metal mould replacing apparatus disclosed therein comprises a metal mould replacing stand of the carriage type disposed behind an injection moulding machine, an advancing/retreating member provided movably in the fore, and rear direction along a guide rail placed on the carriage type replacing s rand and a hook vertically swingably supported by the advancing/retreating member so that an engaging portion formed in the front swingable portion of the hook can engage with an engaged portion of a rear portion of a metal mould from below.
Since the above-mentioned conventional replacing apparatus is adapted to swing the hook below the engaged portion of the metal mould, even when the metal mould sways at the time of placement onto the carriage type replacing stand by a crane and the like, the engaged portion can be prevented from colliding against the hook. Therefore, it becomes unnecessary to provide a space behind the replacing stand for retreating the advancing/retreating member and the hook, so that it becomes possible to decrease a width dimension of the replacing stand in the fore and rear direction by that omitted retreat space.
Accordingly, the conventional replacing apparatus has such an advantage that an area occupied at the time of running of the carriage type replacing stand can be reduced so that a building site of a moulding factory employing such an improved replacing stand can be reduced.
Incidentally, since the running distance of the carriage type replacing stand becomes longer and the area occupied by that running also tends to become larger correspondingly as a latest moulding factory is built is on a larger scale, it getting newly requested that the width dimension of the replacing stand in the fore and rear direction should be further decrease.
However, in the above-mentioned conventional apparatus, since the advancing/retreating member projects rearward comparatively a long distance beyond the engaging portion of the hook, it is necessary to largely extend the guide rail which accommodates the advancing/retreating member rearward and, in accompany of that, also a push/pull drive device for driving the advancing/retreating member projects largely rearward. Accordingly, since the width dimension of the replacing stand in the fore and rear direction can't help becoming larger by that projecting distance of the guide rail and the push/pull drive device, it is impossible to answer the aforementioned new request.